Method of and means for bracing the contents of cars or the like.



E. E. KOEHLER.

METHDD OF AND MEANS FOR BRAUING THE CONTENTS OF CARS OR THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 191a.

1,088,347. Patented Feb. 24, 191 1 4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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E. E. KOEHLER. METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR BRAGING THE CONTENTS OF CARS OR THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1913 Patented Feb. 24, 191 i 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E. E. KOEHL'ER.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR BRAOING THE CONTENTS OF CARS OR THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 191a.

, 1,088,347. Patented Feb. 24, 1914 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3L E. E. KOEHLER.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR BRAOING THE CONTENTS OF CARS OR THE LIKE.

APPLIOATION FILED nov. 4, 1913.

1,088,347. Patented Feb, 24, mm.

4 BHEETS-BHEET i.

IZm6r E %@Z/Z@KI UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER E. KOEHLER, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR BRAGING THE CONTENTS OF CARS'OR THE LIKE. I

Specification of Letters .Patent.

Patented Feb. 24., 1914..

Application filed November 4, 1913. Serial No. 799,180.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER'E. KonnLnR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of and Means for Bracing the Contents of Cars or the like, of which the following is a specification. Q

My invention relates to an improved method and means for bracing the contents of cars, or the. like, and is especially designed for the bracing of eggs in transit in cars, though it is not my intention to be understood as intending to limit it to this particular use.

In the loading more es ecially of railway cars with eggs or other ragile articles, the number of cases thereof laced in the car almost invariably is insu cient to cause the top row'of cases to be coextensive with the area covered by the'rows of cases beneath, and the nonuniformity of the dimensions of the cases and the dimensions of the cars, also prevent the cases from snugly fitting the car. As a consequence the cases are suiilciently free to shift in the car especially when the latter is subjected to severe jolts as often occurs in starting, stopping and side-tracking cars and this has resulted in a large percentage of loss by the breaking of the contents of the cases, this loss in the case of eggs alone being so great as to prompt commercial and railroad associations'to ap oint a committee, one of the members of whlch is a Government official, to investigate the matter and report on ways and means to reduce loss from this cause.

My object is to provide for the bracing of the cases in the cars, or thelike, and thus minimize, if not entirely eliminate, losses which have resulted as hereinbefore stated,

Referring to the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan sectional View of a railway car showing its interior packed with cases, as for example, egg cases, and braced therein by my lmproved bracing means.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional elevation of suitable where the cases in the car are posi tioned in one end only thereof. Fig. 4 is a section taken at the line .4 on Fig. 3 and v ewed 1n the direction of the arrow. Fig.

i 5 is a View similar to Fig. 1, the section being taken at the line 5 on Fig. 6. and viewed in the direction of the arrow, of still another arrangement of my improved bracing means for bracing cases placed in the car in a different position. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the similar racks forming my improved bracing means; and Figs. 8, 9, 10 and 11, sections taken through pluralities of the racks of Fig. 7, interfitting with each other in certain of the different positions of use. p v

In the packing of cases into a car, variations in the inside of the car, or in the cases, or both, cause spaces to be left between cases,

and the shi ments are almost invariably of such a num er of cases that the uppermost row thereof will not be complete, or, in other words, will not contain as many cases as the rows beneath. Furthermore, it is desirable to place relatively small shipments of cases at one end of a car with the result that the arrangements of'cases in the car under the different conditions met with, are almost of infinite number.

. vWhile my improved means have been devised with a view to providing for the bracing of cases in their different arrangements in the car, I have not attempted to illustrate L my improved means for all of the arrangements to which they are applicable, but only to such arrangements as are most commonly met with in practice and which serve to most forcibly illustrate the. character and use of my improved means.

My invention consists in its preferred embodiment of a plurality of similar racks, preferably of wood, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 7, and, as shown, comprising a lurality of longitudinally extending paral el slats 11 connected together at intervals by parallel crossieces 12, which extend at right angles to tie slats, these cross-pieces being. secured in any suitable manner to the same sides of the slats 11 as represented and preferablya distance from the ends of the slats equal to substantially one -half the width of the pieces '12. The slats 11, preferably four in number, are preferably spaced width,

apart a distance slightly in excess of their in practice these slats being about four inches wide and the spaces etween them about four and one-eighth inches wide, and the cross-pieces 12 preferably about four inches wide with the spaces between them of slightly greater width than the distance between the inside edges of the two slats at the opposite edges of the rack.

From the foregoin description it will be readily understood t at the racks may be interfitted with each other at their slats, to cause the racks to extend in parallel relation, or interfitted' with each other to cause the racks to extend at rightangles to each other by fitting one of the racks at a crosspiece 12 thereon into one of the spaces between the slats 11 of the other rack.

In the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, egg cases represented at 13 are arranged in groups at opposite ends of the car indicated at 14, thus leaving a space 15 between the groups of cases near the middle of the car, and the uppermost row of each group of cases consists of a less number of cases than the rows beneath it. In fillin out the space 15 between the two groups 0 cases five of the racks shown in Fig. 7 are employed, these racks being arranged in parallel relation. The two'lower center racks are placed fiatwise together at their crosspieces 12, the third rack is superposed on these two center racks, and the two outer racks are interfitted at their slats 11 with slats of the two center racks, by fitting the lower slats of the outer racks into thespaces between the upper slats of each of the center racks, as more clearly represented in Fig. 8, thus causing the rack structure to extend above the cases 13. The incomplete top row at the left hand end of the car is braced by certain of the racks shown in Fig. 7 In this arrangement three racks are employed, two lying fiat at their cross-pieces on the cases adjacent to the incomplete upper row thereof, one of the two racks lying against the end of the incomplete row of cases and the other of the two racks against the upright racks which fill out the space 15 in the cen ter of the car, and the th1rd rack extending parallel with these two horizontally disposed racks and interfitting at its slats with the slats 11 of these two horizontal racks, as more clearly illustrated in Fig. 9. At the other end of the car one rack is laid on the top of the uppermost complete row of cases and against the side of the incomplete top row of cases to extend transversely of the car and another is laid lengthwise of the car to fit between the horizontall disosed rack and the end of the car, as 0 early illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 10. It will be manifest that if the space to be filled with racxs for preventing the cases from shifting in the car is less at either end of the car than as shown, the three racks at the left-hand end of the car ma be more compactly interfitted and the raclis at the other end may be interfitted to cause across-piece 12 of one rack to interfit between any of the adjacent slats 11 of the other rack, depending on the size of the space to be filled.

In Figs. 3 and 4, I have shown my improved means applied to a car where the cases are stacked in one end only thereof. In this case six racks are employed. One is nailed to the floor at the ends of the rows of cases with its slats uppermost, four are arranged in two upright groups, the slats of each group fitting against each other at their cross-pieces 12, one group being laid against the end of the cases and edgewise upon the horizontal rack and the other group against the first referred to group to extend at its lower end into the space between the two adjacent slats 11 of the horizontal rack, and the sixth rack is interfitted in an inclined position with a slat of the horizontal rack and with a slat on the outermost rack of the two groups thereof. The arrangement of the racks just described thus serve to very effectually brace the cases against shifting in the car.

In Figs. 5 and 6, the arrangement of the cases is such as to producea space at the center of the car between the-two groups of cases and an incomplete row in only one of the groups. arrangement of the cases. shown to be of less width than that in Figs. 1 and 2 to illustrate another condition met in practice, is filled out by two racks placed together at their cross-pieces 12. The upper incomplete row of cases is braced by two of the racks extending transversely of the car and interfitting at their slats 11 to fill out the space between the upper row of the group of cases at one end of the car and the incomplete upper row of the group at the other end of the car.

The examples of arrangements of cases and their relation to the interior of the car are sufficient to clearly disclose the manner in which the racks may be used; and from this disclosure it will bemanifest that the racks may be caused to fill out the various sized spaces presented in practice, as the racks are adapted to be grouped together and interfitted with each other in parallel or transverse relation to form a large number of combinations.

The racks also present the advantage of cushioning the cases in case of jolts by reason of their resiliency, when the racks are of the preferred construction, namely, when made of relatively thin strips of wood.

The central space in this What I claim as new and desire to secure gitudinally extending parallel slats and cross -pieces connecting them together, crosspieces connecting them together, adapted to be interfitted with each other in adapted to be interfitted with each other in parallel transverse relation.

parallel relation. ELMER E. KOEHLER. 5 2. Means for the purpose set forth com- In presence of prising a plurality of racks formed of lon- A. C. FISCHER,

gitudinally extending parallel slats and O. C. Avrsns. 

